An oil sheen was spotted on the Mississippi River on Friday morning, May 15, 2015.
It was spotted around 7 a.m. by a maintenance crew on the Philadelphia Belle. Crews set up near the Celebration Belle in Moline to investigate. Both the Moline Fire Department and the Arsenal put boats in the water to try and figure out where the sheen was coming from. The captain of the Celebration Belle noted that the spill was not coming from the boat.
The Battalion Fire Chief of Moline, Todd Allen, said the sheen flowed about three miles along the shore.
Crews on site were reportedly checking the water from the area near the Kone building to Hampton to try and find the origination of the purported spill.
"It's a long sheen," Allen said. "Obviously a drop of oil in the water is going to spread out and look big, so it's really hard to determine how much oil has spilled, but it's quite a long path."
The Coast Guard arrived around 8:20 a.m. and collected samples near the Arsenal Hydro Dam, Allen said.
"Water intakes are completely safe," Allen said. "There's no issue with the drinking water. It's more of an environmental concern at this point."
Luke Wood from the U.S. Coast Guard said they would continue to trace the shoreline to find the source. He estimated no more than 20 gallons of oil had been spilled into the river.
